Iran's energy sector review

The rising tensions over holding a ten-day naval drill in the Persian Gulf, aimed at showing Iran's capability in blocking the strategic Strait of Hormuz through which 20 percent of the global oil transfer is carried out, has raised debates over probable substitutes for the Strait. Last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that some 17 million barrels of crude oil is transited through the 21-mile-wide Strait of Hormuz per day, equivalent to 35 percent of the total oil transportation of oil through open seas. Each day, at least 17 oil tankers are sailing through the Strait of Hormuz. Some, 85 percent of the oil consignments, which pass through the Strait, are destined for Asian markets such as China, India, South Korea and Japan. Iran is currently exporting up to 2.15 million barrels of crude oil (Its total oil export) through the Strait. So, closing it would be a suicide attack for Iran and would lead to outrage of major oil importers such as Ir...

Rising USD rate by 40 percent and more than 45 cents difference between the rate in the open market and official statistics in Iran caused some serious confusion. Iranian Mehr News Agency reported on Wednesday, that rising USD is happening with out any obstacles. According to the stats of Iran's Central Bank, the USD rate is 11,000 rials, while USD rate in the open market it is 16,000 rials. Just two days ago, the rate was 14,250 rials, while this figure was 10,600 rials last year. Liquidity and bank interest One of the major causes of increasing USD rate is the existence of high liquidity in Iran, which has exceeded equal to over $300 billion, according to the latest statistics by the Central Bank of Iran show. Iranian government cut the subsides since December 2010 and pays more than $3 billion of cash subsides to citizens per month. International Monetary Fund says Iran's liquidity growth in 2012 will reach 15.9 percent as well. Increasing liquidity results in...

Twelve OPEC member countries agreed to officially fix cartel's output ceiling to 30 mbpd, a 6 million barrel increase over the ceiling they set in 2008. According to official OPEC reports, member countries ignored quotas and increased their oil production level, which totaled 30.47 mbpd by November of 2011. Six months ago, at a meeting of OPEC oil ministers, Iran, Venezuela and Algeria opposed Saudi Arabia's proposal to increase the OPEC's production ceiling by 1.5 mbpd. This created a split among members and the meeting ended inconclusively. In reality, OPEC's production ceiling unofficially reached more than 30 mbpd in November (with Saudi Arabia's sudden increase of its crude oil production to 10 .047 mbpd), excepting condensate, Libya's increase of its production ceiling again by a million bpd, and Iraq's production increase to 2.135 mbpd . Saudi Arabia's oil production hasn't been more than 10 mbpd since 1980. It is likely that ...

Iran says it will discuss the international gas prices at the first summit of the heads of state of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), which will open in Doha, the capital city of Qatar on November 15. Could Iran, holding almost 16 percent of the global gas reserves, influence the global gas prices in the current state of affairs? Iran is the only member of the GECF, which unites Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, who insists to control the international gas price by defining the protecting packages at the Forum. But to what extent does it rely on realities? One can suggest the GECF with its eleven members holding 42 percent of the global gas production, 70 percent of the world gas reserves, 38 percent of gas pipelines and 85 percent of LNG trade is giant enough to influence on international gas markets by acting similar to OPEC in determining the oil price. However, Iranian officials have been annou...

Despite Iranian officials' constant rejections of releasing the information about the decrease in the country's oil production, The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) new report confirms dropping of Iranian oil output by 120,000 barrels during the current year. The National Iranian South Oil Company Managing Director Hourmuz Galavand claimed in October 2011 that Iran's current oil production is 3.9 million barrels of oil per day. Meanwhile, Ghalavand said earlier that Iran's oil production reduces by around 300,000 barrels per year because about 80 percent of oil wells in the country are in their second half-life. According to OPEC's new report published on Nov.9, Iranian oil output decreased to 3.578 million barrels per day in October 2011. The country's production was 3.598 million in August and 3.601 million in September. With comparing the figure with 2006, Iran's oil production has fallen by 0.5 mb/d. OPEC...

The economic and political interdependence between the two Persian-language nations - Iran and Tajikistan, with $200 million worth trade turnover is not as vital as the matter of sink or swim, but significantly important for both them. Five mutual trips of Iranian and Tajik presidents over the recent two years demonstrate the significance of bilateral relations between the two countries. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi in a meeting with his Tajik counterpart Hamrokhon Zarifi on the sidelines of Istanbul Conference on Wednesday stressed importance of finalizing joint economic projects. Tajikistan is one of the most vulnerable economies in Central Asia, as it is not as energy-rich as other countries in the Central Asia, the International Monetary Fund said in April. This fact is enough for encouraging any international super power to get a firm footing here. For instance, during independence Tajikistan's goods turnover with China increased roughly by 15 times ...

Iran, with its largest population on the Caspian Sea shore among other littoral countries, is keen to save the world's biggest inland body of water from pollution and has initiated a "Comprehensive plan to reduce pollution" plan. The Fars News Agency quoted the head of Department of Environment Mohammad-Javad Mohammadzadeh as saying that the plan targets preventing entry of pollutants, including household waste, especially in Gorgan and Mazandaran provinces, to the Caspian. Meanwhile, Abdolreza Karbasi, the deputy head of Environmental Protection of Iran alarmed about the ecological state of beaches, releasing warning to swimmers in the Caspian Sea. "The pollution at some parts of the sea has exceeded the authorized limit by 100 times," he said. Iranian coastal population is around 6 million people, including residents in the regions en route the rivers that flow to the Caspian, whose household waste waters enter the sea without passing through wa...